13. Presentation
PRESENTATION
VERONICA
“I don’t want the bathing chamber to be closed to me. I promised to look after Vi.”
The servants looked at each other, but they got the picture. Even though Rathgar wasn’t my heart-mate, he probably had already talked to Gairo about my pregnancy. These alpha males were overprotective. A group of the servants got me pretty without saying much to me. There were robes for me to wear that were nothing like what I had in the human colony.
When we were done, one of the servants went to Rathgar to say that I was ready to attend the feast.
“Where’s Gairo?” I asked a servant. Rathgar noticed that the servants weren’t speaking to me.
“Answer her,” growled Rathgar.
“Gairo is there with his brother and fiancée.”
“Hell no,” said Vi. “Show me to the way to the feast.”
Rathgar chuckled, but he got the servants to get us to the feast. Gairo was seated at the high table, but he got to his feet and extracted himself from Zyloxia and Magdorian. “You can sit next to me. I’ll get Zyloxia to move.”
I walked with him to his seat. Zyloxia had her chin up, and she didn’t look like she was going to move. “I need you to move.”
“I don’t want to.” Zyloxia didn’t look like she’d budge an inch.
“You’ll move for my heart-mate,” snarled Gairo. Whispers broke out around us, but Zyloxia finally moved. Rathgar sat at the seat next to the chair that Zyloxia vacated. Another chair was called for by Magdorian, who seemed amused. We finally got to eat, which was great because I was pregnant, and I noticed how many people looked at me. When I finished eating, I was one of the last to do so. Magdorian got to his feet.
“I have a toast,” said Magdorian. “To Tyrlyn’s return!”
A roar broke out, and I saw a bunch of cups raised in the air. They were really glad that Gairo had come back. What role did I fit into here?